Who wouldn’t want to be beautiful? What is beauty? Perhaps, we have all considered these questions at one time or another. I would choose to be beautiful if given the choice. Based on some of my observations of standard beauty, I know it would give me a competitive edge just like youth. I have followed a beautiful woman all day, many days, to see what it is like to be praised and admired by those who know a beautiful woman. I have watched others to learn the pros and cons of having an attractive appearance.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Anyone could potentially be beautiful according to someone else. Some people prefer blondes. Others prefer tanned skin. Still others prefer tall people. Everyone has their own preferences; however, there are some people who have facial and body proportions that are considered beautiful by most. Those people who tend to fall into the standard beauty category tend to get a lot of extra attention throughout the day.
The attention given to a beautiful woman is to have all eyes on her and receive many compliments. People will talk to her a lot, offer her free drinks, offer her gifts, ask her for her address, ask her out on a date, and more. At least this is what I observed while following a beautiful woman around the clock for many days. She received so many compliments that it became somewhat annoying even for her. People showered her with lots of praise for everything she did. While she was conducting her job search, her potential employers told her that they were looking for someone who was beautiful. An employer said that she wanted to hire someone with a “beautiful presence.” Naturally, the beautiful woman found work without difficulty.
If being beautiful means that a person can have more friends, find more jobs, and influence others, then it is obviously convenient to be beautiful. Being unattractive means that an individual has some less standardized and more unusual proportions. There are some obvious reasons why a person considered less attractive by most might benefit from struggling to attract others. He will benefit by having to do better at his work or by having to study diligently.
A person who is less attractive will be attractive to someone somewhere. He or she will have to work harder to prove her worth in some areas or studies. To compete with the so-called “beautiful” person, the “average” person will have to go the extra mile. He or she might try to be more polite or creative. You could develop a special talent such as art, singing, or a sport. Perhaps the less attractive individual decides to read more books to be appreciated for her knowledge. She could become a learned person to prove herself. Those people who don’t consider themselves to be extremely beautiful will know what it feels like to work hard to achieve something without relying on their appearance. The same could be said of older people who have to work harder to find work than younger people.
The notion of beauty is in the mind, so to some extent it is true to say that people are only as beautiful as they feel. It is important not to become vain or look better than others, no matter how beautiful you feel.
One risk beautiful people face is becoming lazy if they become narcissistic, believing that everyone else should praise them and give them gifts. Everyone needs to retain some humility. If parents and the world constantly praise a man, he runs the risk of thinking himself too important. If he becomes narcissistic, he will sit around waiting for others to be his servants. A beautiful woman said that she was “too beautiful for her husband.” She told him that “no one but her would have him because he wasn’t very handsome.” Another handsome man refused to work for nine years and continually reminded others how handsome he was. Therefore, he said that his wife’s DNA was inferior and that she should be his servant for that reason. Such are the results of having an overly inflated ego for believing yourself to be the “epitome” of beauty. Not all beautiful women or men become selfish. Many beautiful people don’t have big egos and are considerate of others.
Self-absorption results from having received so many compliments that a man thinks he is extremely handsome. Such people may miss out on studying at university or developing their minds in other ways when they feel they can get by on beauty alone. Unfortunately, no one will be beautiful forever, and it’s worth spending some time learning a skill or about the arts and humanities no matter how attractive it may be. No one is so perfect that they don’t benefit from learning for learning’s sake.
Perhaps true beauty is one’s ability to see the inner beauty in the heart of a kind person, regardless of the outer person. Sometimes the happiest relationships are the ones where one individual is prettier than the other, but where love has more to do with the internal values shared between two individuals. Who wouldn’t admire the person who has enough inner beauty to be able to see the inner beauty in others? It is true that lasting relationships arise from kindness between two people despite beauty problems.
The perks of beauty include having many opportunities to work, date, get married, and be loved by others. Most people would enjoy such opportunities and the status of being beautiful, but one must never forget that in some cases, having too much beauty and receiving too many compliments leads to becoming arrogant, narcissistic, and selfish. Many women and men, thinking that they can rely solely on their beauty, never reach their intellectual and spiritual potential. Therefore, the author of this article believes that each of us should seek to live with humility, nurturing our minds and opening them to the possibility that true beauty comes from within. Once we embrace the inner beauty of the person, not the outer appearances, we become more skilled in relationships, as well as in dating, love, and marriage.
